Hiding Your Light

In Matthew 5:15, Jesus entreats us to not hide our light, but to put it on its stand, and give light to everyone in the house.

A recent I Ching casting had a different recommendation.

Hexagram 36 says that there are times when we should hide our light in order to protect ourselves.

I have found that this hiding must occur with co-workers, friends and family. It must occur, in other words, with the people who are closest to you.

When you speak out to an entrenched people, you will run into criticism and ostracism.

I have found that many do not want dialog; they want to hold to their beliefs, prove you wrong, and resent or demean you for believing differently.

They do not want your light.

So place your light under that bushel; let it glow and shine within; develop the truth within yourself.

Spend your time educating and enlightening yourself, rather than wasting it arguing and disagreeing.

Americans are Hurting

In the last five months alone, employment fell by 2.5 million. Millions more have lost their health care, their homes, and the savings that families worked so hard to build.

A majority of leading economists favor a large stimulus plan because through it the government will step up spending at a time when private-sector spending has fallen off sharply. At the same time, they agree that tax cuts are not as effective a stimulus as is spending.

President Obama has said that if nothing (or too little) is done, the recession may linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs and unemployment will approach double digits.

Americans are hurting. Yet 100% of the House Republicans and 88% of the Senate Republicans voted against the stimulus.

They act as if we have all the time in the world. The party’s sole ambition is to play petty politics to gum up the works. As their leading spokesman has said, "I hope he (Obama) fails."

The crisis is at least as grave as any one that has recently confronted us. Which is why the antics among Republicans on Capitol Hill seem so surreal. These are the same politicians who only yesterday smeared the patriotism of any dissenters from Bush’s “war on terror.”

Americans are hurting. So where is the Republicans' patriotism now that economic terror is inflicting far more harm on their constituents than Saddam Hussein’s nonexistent W.M.D.?

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

Bloodshed in Gaza

It may be a new year, but the bloodshed in Gaza this past week is a clear reminder that peace will not come when the heart is filled with greed, hatred or delusion.  These three are the causes of all suffering.

Since December 27, these horrific attacks on Gaza have caused over 400 Palestinian deaths and 2000 injuries. Rocket fire by armed Palestinian groups, including Hamas, has taken the lives of 4 Israelis and caused several dozen injuries. All human beings should condemn the violence on both sides and call on all parties to abide by international law and policies. 

The U.S. government cannot continue its lop-sided blame on Hamas for the crisis. We must acknowledge Israel's disproportional response and its policies which have brought the Gaza Strip to the brink of humanitarian disaster. 

Civilians in Gaza, already trapped in dehumanizing conditions, are victims of Israeli air strikes and intensified attacks. Israeli blockades of humanitarian supplies continue to deny Palestinians the food and medical supplies they desperately need. 

Join Amnesty International in calling to help lift Gaza out of this crisis.

Proud Liberal

What would America be like without the liberal advances of the past sixty or seventy years? 

Without the extraordinary contribution of liberals — from the mightiest presidents to the most unheralded protesters and organizers — the United States would be a much, much worse place than it is today.

Civil rights? Women’s rights? Liberals went to the mat for them time and again against ugly, vicious and sometimes murderous opposition. They should be forever proud.

The liberals gave us Social Security and unemployment insurance, both of which were contained in the original Social Security Act. Most conservatives despised the very idea of this assistance to struggling Americans. Republicans hated Social Security, but most were afraid to give full throat to their opposition in public at the height of the Depression.

Liberals gave us Medicare and Medicaid. Quick, how many of you (or your loved ones) are benefiting mightily from these programs, even as we speak. It's telling that Republicans are proud of Ronald Reagan, who saw Medicare as "the advance wave of socialism," while they actively and forcefully demand the benefits of it.

Delusional and hypocritical.

Without the many great and noble deeds of liberals over the past six or seven decades, America would hardly be recognizable to today’s young people. Liberals (including liberal Republicans, who have since been mostly drummed out of the party) ended legalized racial segregation and gender discrimination.

Liberals gave this country Head Start and legal services and the food stamp program. They fought for cleaner air and cleaner water.

Liberals. Your food is safer because of them, and so are your children’s clothing and toys. Your workplace is safer. Your ability (or that of your children or grandchildren) to go to college is manifestly easier.

It would take volumes to adequately cover the enhancements to the quality of American lives and the greatness of American society that have been wrought by people whose politics were unabashedly liberal. 

It is a track record that deserves to be celebrated.

Better Aspirations

What have we done lately? Have we had a successful national initiative since 1969 and the moon landing?

If you look back at the recent years, our nation has achieved nothing in which we can take pride in as a nation; some wondrous act that people generations from now will study as examples for an enlightened, productive and just society.

I'm talking about the achievements such as: John Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the moon; Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, and the Civil Rights Act; Dwight Eisenhower's national highway program; Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, the victory in WWII, the G.I. Bill, and his vision for the United Nations; Theodore Roosevelt's Square Deal, and the regulation of corrupt and monopolistic industries; Abraham Lincoln's ending of slavery, and his superhuman effort to hold our nation together; and finally, the First Transcontinental Railroad, the Monroe Doctrine and the Louisiana Purchase.

Since July 20, 1969, when an American set foot on the moon, what have we done with commitment and pride?

Since that time, a materialistic corruption has ruled American policies. How else can we explain the incompetence, the scandals, the corruption, the waste, the giveaways to those with much, the convicted lobbyists and the no-bid contracts? My explanation is that some in government want government to fail, so that Americans no longer believe that great things are possible. A disengaged citizenry is easier to manipulate.

I have a different view from this. Here are our next great achievements: lift working families out of poverty with supports for transportation, health care, nutrition, child care, education, housing, and other basic needs; resolve conflicts, reduce violence, and defeat terrorism without preemptive war; institute a consistent ethic of life (reduce abortion, end capital punishment, and stop genocide); strengthen human rights and promote human dignity; protect our planet from the interests and activities that damage it (reverse global climate change and develop clean, renewable energy); skillful measures to strengthen families must become a personal and national priority (without scapegoating gays, immigrants, or people diverse race, faiths or ethnicity).

Forty years of nothing is enough. Better aspirations and goals await us. We have been and can be a better nation than this.

So don't believe the lie that government is the problem. We the American people are the government, and it is time that once again we use it for our own greatness and for the benefit of all peoples of our shared planet.

Betrayal of Principles

At the end of World War II, 1200 heavy bombers flew over the vicinity of Royan in western France and dropped napalm, killing German soldiers and thousands of French civilians, destroying what was once a beautiful little resort town. This was April, 1945, and the German soldiers were stranded, left behind, waiting for the war to end.

During the Korean War, a surprise U.S. air attack on east Wolmi island on Sept. 10, 1950, killed 100 or more South Korean civilians. In clear weather from low altitude, U.S. forces napalmed numerous small buildings, strafed children, women and old people in the open area.

In November, 2005, U.S. Marines shot 24 Iraqi civilians, killing men, women and children at close range. Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident who said he watched and listened from his home as Marines went from house to house killing members of three families, recalled hearing his neighbor across the street, Younis Salim Khafif, plead in English for his life and the lives of his family members. "I heard Younis speaking to the Americans, saying: 'I am a friend. I am good,'" Fahmi said. "But they killed him, and his wife and daughters."

In war, there is nothing noble. In war, there are only betrayals of the principles for which the war was supposed to have been fought. I don't want to honor military heroism -- that conceals too much death and suffering. I want to honor those who have opposed the horror of war.

Buddhists believe that all life is precious. "No killing" is the First Precept. For those who have, with intent and foresight, harmed or caused harm, their future is determined by the law of Karma. There is no exception.

However, Buddhists don't believe in passivity. We believe we should do something about the conflicts in the world. But we should not do war. Because war makes things worse than they were before. War has consequences which you cannot predict.

What we can do is change from a military superpower to a humanitarian superpower. We are enormously wealthy. Let's use that wealth to help change social and economic conditions around the world. Is this less of a goal than is war?

Peace Train by Yusuf Islam

A wonderful message for hope and against prejudice, paranoia and intolerance.

For America's Sake

Our greatest presidents have had a common vision for the community we call America. Abraham Lincoln believed that government should be not just "of the people" and "by the people" but "for the people."

Today, what we have is an America fashioned into a second Gilded Age, for the comfort and luxury of the wealthy. The conservative movement has distributed wealth in our nation so that the top 1 percent of Americans are worth more than the bottom 90 percent. That is to say, that under the conservatives, government has ended up servicing the powerful by taking from everyone else.

There is a better vision for American as seen by Jefferson, Lincoln and the two Roosevelts. They each recognized that Aristocracy is not Democracy. They saw that Freedom is more than a private value, it is a social contract. We have obligations to each other, mutually and through our government, to assure that we all equally have a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

America is more that the sum of our material appetites. Our country is more than an economic machine. Freedom is not a license but a responsibility -- the gift we have received and the legacy we must bequeath. We are the story of equal power -- of democracy and not aristocracy. We have and must provide the promise to leave no one out.

It's time to get back to these basics, and to reclaim Democracy.

Community Values

Our politics, society and public discussions are highly polarized. We constantly look for differences to separate us, rather than looking for common ground and values upon which we can build and work together.

Many politicians and media pundits tell us that it's good versus evil, black and white, right and wrong, patriots and traitors.

But it's possible to develop another view. We can embrace Community Values, because our actions have consequences beyond ourselves; our fates are linked.

Embracing Community Values means believing that we prosper both as individuals and as a people when our politics and policies reflect that we're all in it together. We all know instinctively that we're stronger together. And history shows that when we work together to solve our problems, placing the well-being of the community as a top priority, we all move forward. Conversely, when we leave people behind, we all suffer.

We've always embraced the idea of different people uniting to accomplish a common goal and to move our society forward together. That story is embodied in our national motto of E Pluribus Unum — "From Many, One." We've embraced it in our efforts to meet common challenges like World War II, the Great Depression, childhood diseases, the denial of civil rights, even the race to the moon.

We can rise together to meet the current challenges: Climate change, the uninsured, immigration, education, sustainable energy and energy conservation.

Or we can bicker and fight and go to our separate corners, solve nothing and suffer the consequences.

It's our choice.

The Six Pillars of Character

The Josephson Institute is an organization whose mission is to improve the ethical commitment, competence, and practice in all segments of society. (It is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian, nonprofit organization.) I have read and reminded myself of these Six Pillars many times over the past twenty years. Sometimes, it's not that we need to learn something new, but we need reminding of what we already know. Visit their website, and enjoy much more.


• Trustworthiness
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Reliability (Promise-keeping)
- Loyalty
• Respect
- Civility, Courtesy and Decency
- Dignity and Autonomy
- Tolerance and Acceptance
• Responsibility
- Accountability
- Pursuit of Excellence
- Self-Restraint
• Fairness
- Process
- Impartiality
- Equity
• Caring
• Citizenship